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Status quo ante bellum

The term status quo ante bellum (often shortened to status quo ante) is a Latin phrase meaning "the state existing before the war".[1]

The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used as such, it means that no side gains or loses territory or economic and political rights. This contrasts with uti possidetis, where each side retains whatever territory and other property it holds at the end of the war.

The Seven Years' War between Prussia and Austria lasted from 1756 to 1763 and concluded status quo ante bellum.[3] Austria tried to regain the region of Silesia, lost in the War of the Austrian Succession eight years previously, but the territory remained in the hands of the Prussians.

Another example of a war that ended status quo ante bellum is the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom, which was concluded with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814.[4] During negotiations, British diplomats had suggested ending the war uti possidetis,[5] While American diplomats also demanded cession from Canada,[6] the final treaty, due in large part to pressure from the British government to secure peace early left neither gains nor losses in land for the United States or the United Kingdom's Canadian colonies.

The Korean DMZ Conflict, also referred to as the Second Korean War by some, was a series of low-level armed clashes between North Korean forces and the forces of South Korea and the United States, largely occurring between 1966 and 1969 at the Korean DMZ.

The Iran–Iraq War lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. "The war left the borders unchanged. Three years later, as war with the western powers loomed, Saddam Hussein recognized Iranian rights over the eastern half of the Shatt al-Arab, a reversion to the status quo ante bellum that he had repudiated a decade earlier." In exchange Iran gave a promise not to attempt any invasion of Iraq while the latter was busy in Kuwait.

The Kargil War was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu & Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). The war started with the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and armed insurgents into positions on the Indian side of the LoC. After two months of fighting, the Indian military regained the majority of the positions on the Indian side, and the Pakistani forces withdrew to their peacetime positions. The war ended with no territorial changes on either side.[7]